UWG Newnan campus project receives donation

The major fundraising effort for the University of West Georgia Newnan campus has received a boost with a donation from William G. “Bill” Hammond honoring his parents, Harold and Polly Hammond.

Hammond recently made a donation to the University of West Georgia Foundation to provide financial support for UWG Newnan. The donation will be used to fund facility enhancements and a portion of the donation will be placed in the Newnan Center Facilities Endowment.

“This was a great way for me to give back to the community,” said Hammond. “I feel if you were born and raised in Newnan, moved back after college and raised your family in Newnan, earned your living in Newnan and will retire in Newnan you should feel an obligation to give back and create an even better place for the next generation. I wanted to do something for the city of Newnan and the University of West Georgia. My gift accomplished both.”

Hammond’s donation was done in honor of his parents, Harold and Polly Hammond. “They gave me life, raised me and molded me into the person I am today,” said Hammond. “How can you ever repay your parents for all they did for you? You cannot. My gift is only a small token of my appreciation.”

In recognition of his donation, Hammond will receive the naming of the UWG Newnan Interior Courtyard, where his parents will also be recognized.

Hammond, a Certified Financial Planner, is the founder of Hammond Investment Planning Corporation, a Registered Investment Advisor and financial planning firm in Atlanta. He has been a member of The Financial Planning Association since 1974 and Institute of Certified Financial Planners, now Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., since 1975.

Hammond has participated in several of the Atlanta Journal “Money Makeover” columns and has been quoted in the Atlanta Business Chronicle. With more than 30 years experience, Hammond was named one of the 120 best financial advisors for doctors by Medical Economics and was featured on the cover of Boomer Market Advisor in February 2006.

“I believe those of us who have been blessed financially need to share their blessing with others,” said Hammond. “I also believe we are merely temporary stewards with assets we have been trusted with and if we want to leave this world a better place, it is up to each of us to do our part.”

Renovation work by the City of Newnan to transform the old Newnan Hospital facilities into a new home for the UWG Newnan Center is under way at the old hospital site on Jackson Street just north of downtown Newnan.

A kick-off event for the fundraising effort was held April 14, with tours of the construction progress.

Carrollton-based UWG’s new Newnan satellite campus will be moving to the Jackson Street site from its current home in Shenandoah Industrial Park. Creation of the new campus is a project among the city of Newnan, Coweta County, and the board that remains from the former Newnan Hospital.

“The generous partnership between the city, the county and the hospital board has provided us a wonderful new building in which to educate students in the Newnan and Coweta County area,” said Elizabeth Stone, a representative for UWG. “Now UWG needs to raise funds that will provide for other needs vital to our primary goal: student success.”

According to Stone, UWG’s fundraising efforts are focused in three main areas – student scholarships, facility enhancements, and funding for faculty positions.

The facility enhancements include building out the “science laboratories, classroom equipment, and technology, furniture for common spaces and study rooms, and security and access systems.”

The fundraising efforts also provide opportunities for people to name certain areas of the new facility.

Naming and fundraising opportunities for the new campus include:

•Nursing suite – $500,000

•Lecture hall – $500,000

•Jackson Street Quad – $250,000

•Student lobby – $200,000

•Campus quad at student entry – $150,000

•Simulation rooms (6) – $100,000 each (1 named)

•Courtyard (named) – $100,000

•Science labs (3) – $75,000 each

•Donor wall – $50,000

•Solarium (2) – $50,000 each

•Computer center (2) – $50,000 each

•Director’s suite (named) – $50,000

•Conference rooms (2) – $25,000 each

•Student study area (2) – $25,000 each

•Tutoring-Writing center – $25,000

•Classrooms (5) – $25,000 each

•Seminar rooms (2) – $25,000 each

•Teaching materials center – $25,000

•Newnan Alpha Scholarship – $125,000

•Newnan Trailblazer Scholarship – $50,000

•Newnan Center Facilities Endowment – $50,000

•Newnan Center Faculty Endowment – $50,000

•Endowed scholarships – $25,000

Commitments may be paid over a five-year period.

Bob Coggin, member of the Newnan City Council, is chair of the fundraising committee. For more information about fundraising, contact Coggin at rwc@numail.org.

The UWG’s Center for Business and Economic Research reported that this hospital redevelopment project will bring $21 million to Newnan during the constructional phase and create 176 jobs, and is expected to generate between $1.4 million and $3.4 million annually in the community.

On Jan. 8, 2013, the Georgia Board of Regents approved purchasing the old hospital property, and the Newnan City Council approved contracts to move the project forward on Jan. 22. Under the project, the Newnan Hospital Board will donate all the land and give about $4.2 million toward the project. Coweta County will give slightly more than $500,000 over a 10-year period. Once the project is completed, the Board of Regents will buy the complex for $5 million.

Plans are to finish the facility in time for classes to start there in January 2015.

The University of West Georgia has an enrollment of some 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students in 93 fields of study. Founded in Carrollton, Ga., in 1906, UWG also offers classes at its Newnan and Douglasville centers and online. For more information, visit westga.edu .